Just thought I’d post a little thread here on how this car is doing and what is going on with it these days. The car is back here yet again for more work and is rolling out with some new and improved parts. For those that don’t know, this is Justin Mcgrath’s black MR he sold awhile back to a MA resident. Little tidbit info on it:
Stock block 4g63
ARP headstuds and rod bolts
Helix(???) exhaust cam and valve train
ATP 3076R “stealth” turbo kit(3076R, Tial, 3" V band O2/DP)
XS front mount
R247 charge pipe kit
AMS lightweight battery kit
ACT HDXS semi metallic clutch and STFW
Snow injection system with boost cut
AEM Trueboost and UGEO
Misc carbon goodies throughout
Joe is continually determined to make the trip from Boston to my shop each and every time someone must go under the hood and this event is no different. This time around the ATP kit is going out the door, and in it’s place will reside the original AFI twinscroll kit (quite possibly the prototype). This kit is actually a very nice setup. It retains the Garrett 3076R, but instead of the proprietary ATP turbine housing this one uses the .78 a/r Garrett divided volute/V-band housing. Header is quite a nice piece, equal length, and runs twin Synapse Engineering Syncronic 40mm external gates. I did a rough scan of the header and plotted it into Solidowrks and I must say it’s pretty good. I’m going to “modify” the flange ports and runner transitions internally for better reversion but aside from that it’s off-the-shelf good.
We’re not shooting for a huge boost power but rather much better midrange and maybe a bit more top end. The ATP kit can and does put out power but is VERY laggy due to the turbine volute design from ATP. We’re talking ~ 1.5bar boost at ~4700rpm. Meh, so-so. While I haven’t proven any information it has been said that this AFI kit yields abut an 800-1k rpm quicker spool time, which is light years in big-flow turbo terms. We’re going to remap the car to run the same boost and 100% meth injection and maybe work up form there. This bottom end is stout, but Joe isn’t going to have me build it until mid next year so it has to last for awhile yet.
The external gates are currently atmospheric and at the request of Joe will be modified/relocated to route back into the DP, about 20" beyond the O2 housing to avoid choke at high rpms. Rework a few lines and add a support in one place and it’s good to go. Really just ~4 hours of labor overall to swap this all out and work in the new gear. Tune scheduled for next Tuesday.
One quick picture of the whole kit(minus DP) as it was when I pulled it from the box this morning. Kit IS used just for reference.
I’ll take some more pictures later on when I actually start working on the car, little hectic right now after returning from vacation. I don’t have any solid numbers on how well this car ran. Last runs he made were on ice, where even my buddies tubbed 4 link TSi couldn’t even hook up. I know there’s a handfull of people here that miss this car, myself included, so I’ll keep you updated.
Yea, there isn’t anything “stealth” about the ATP kit at all. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to spot all the braided lines and 4" inlet compressor. Nevermind that it fits like garbage, but that’s typical ATP fashion(ooops, I done and said it!)
I really like this car. It’s not my favorite evo I’ve built(EJ’s e8 track car is my top pick) but if this kit lives up to the “hype” I’ve read it’ll definitely bump it up to a close second and bring back some of the silly spooling fun the 16g powered cars have.
Well the nwe kit is on and modified. A ~ 4 hr job tuned into me eating 15hrs of labor when the Dump tube and DP issues really got ugly and I had to really dive into getting things to work. The AFI header positioning of the WG’s really limited what I could do, but still made it work. Also got pissed after I found out the DP was made for an '03 Evo 8 without ACD and doesn’t fit the ACD Evo 9’s. Had to hack up and modify the crap out of the poor thing but it’s working now with clearance.
Couple light jaunts up Rt50 on the way home yielded fun results. Car is definitely building boost sooner and is going to be more fun to drive again even with the 3076R. Can’t go ballistic yet as the car is running lean midrange(~13.4-13.7) as it’s not tuned for the increased airflow down low.
Some more pictures. Nothing fancy, especially since working around a used, pre-existing kit, but fun none the less.
Comparison of the ATP kit(left) and AFI kit. Lower right is the modified DP and the y-pipe wastegate dump system back into a “flexed” return so the fucker doesn’t crack. Only thing I like more about the ATP kit are the braided coolant lines…they were too short otherwise I would have retrofitted them to this kit.
Header/WG fitment. Tight squeeze, but they did a pretty good job of stuffing it all in there neatly, and this picture is sans radiator/fan. Had to stick a slim line fan in there too to get some clearance. There are a few little design “flaws” that I would have worked differently in the manifold, mostly port-to-runner transitions and WG packaging but overall a solid piece. Flows good, according to Solidworks that is :tong
Initial tacking and positioning of the dump tubes after I got really pissed and took a sawzall to the existing parts. Shit don’t go my way and it just get’s the ax taken to it, or ends up in the trash as scrap. I don’t have a picture here of the underside, but with the DP, my LICP, and now this dump tube system there’s zero room. I feel bad for the poor bastard that has to change something like a starter or oil pan gasket in the future…oh wait that’s me! :haha
And a final pic of the kit all in and wrapped up. Not too bad, would have done more but I’m working on a set quote on this project and already ate a good ~15hrs or so as is.
Wow Adam, that is tight. Looks good though. I was gonna stop down and see ya today. Hopefully you’ll be there, and so will the car. I wanna see this in person.
Just to clear some things up…(and i didn’t take it personal )
My original customer ordered this back in March, he contacted me to build him a t3 twinscroll manifold, o2 housing, downpipe (for his non acd car) and dumptubes. He would supply the turbo, wastegates (which i usually ONLY use Tial 44mm’s) oil lines and coolant lines/fittings. Since it was a prototype, and going on a non acd car, rather than find a local ACD car to test on, i built it off my EVO (ditched the ACD TC along time ago). I also did what i could with the wastegates, flanged gates make for shitty packaging IMO and your fixed to 2 positions only. FYI our production kit is flanged for 44mm gates, DP has a flex section and works with ACD TC’s As for being a tight fit…no excuse there lol. Your putting 10lbs of crap in a 2lb bag lol. I’ve seen all the other twin scroll kits in person…same thing.
Anyways good to see it being put on another car!! hope to see some good numbers! I’m running a twin scroll 50 trim on my car ;D
Hey Jesse! Totally agree with what you said there about the gates…working with the dated two bolt flange stuff does limit your packaging abilities for certain. The newer V-band gates make this work so much easier. “Flaws” just used for lack of a better term. WG problems were unavoidable as stated. Only manifold change I’d do is the header flange to runner transition on the header itself(not straight enough immediately after the flange on a couple runners(3+4) for proper flow and reversion) but space constraints limit what you can do in a road legal car, let alone a daily driver…an auto fabricators worst enemy. You did more than fine on this manifold. Flowworks test and Cosmos showed the manifold to be a solid piece under ~1850F temperature(very little thermal shift) and flowed very well.
I figured this was the prototype kit as all the other pictures I have seen of your product listed Tial components and small visual changes. Wasn’t pissed at you for the work done in initial fabrication but pissed at myself as I’m eating my words on the install quote; Joe told me it was a “bolt in” kit and I quoted it as such. My own fault really. Wasn’t hard to retrofit in the end just took my time as I was working around your existing manifold. I’m going to stick a flex section in the system later on just for peace of mind against cracking. Already have a leak at the 2 bolt cat flanges…cutting those out and welding in vbands on Weds.
Tomorrow is the tune, shooting for some better spool on this car and more midrange torque than that craptastic ATP kit. Even as it sits now I’m liking the car better, it’s more enjoying to drive here on the twisted back roads of my area. I can only imagine it getting better tomorrow after the fuel trims are reworked.
Definitely some solid fabrication throughout your setup Jesse, keep up the good work! Most other people kits I would have just hacked up completely and started over from scratch :lol
)